The present invention relates to a ratchet wrench with a reduced head and, more particularly, to a ratchet wrench having a head that can be moved into a small, recessed environment for operation.
U.S. Pat. Ser. No. 7,093,520 discloses a gear wrench having a head formed with a receiving compartment for receiving a gear ring, a tail, and a neck between the head and the tail. The neck extends obliquely from the head towards the tail to form a height difference between the head and the tail. An indent and an aperture are provided between the neck and the head for mounting a direction switch. The indent allows access of the fingers of the user to the direction switch, such that the user can rotate the direction switch to change the driving direction of the ratchet wrench. In use, the obliquely extending neck allows the ratchet wrench to tighten or loosen a workpiece, such as a fastener, in a recessed environment. The maximal diameter of the head must be smaller than the space of the recessed environment. However, the head of the ratchet wrench can not enter the space if there are obstacles in the space. A solution to this problem is using an extension rod or extension socket to increase the working depth of the ratchet wrench to access the workpiece in the space. However, coupling of the extension rod or extension socket of a suitable length is troublesome and time-consuming. The weight of the extension rods or extension sockets cause a burden to the user in addition to troublesome handling and selection of the extension rod or extension socket of the desired size. Thus, the ratchet wrench of this type still has disadvantages.
Thus, a need exists for a novel ratchet wrench without the above disadvantages.